The famous photo of Elizabeth Eckford (one of the Little Rock Nine) and Hazel Bryan that the campers learned about today.

Today was a day full of introductions and orientations. Campers finally arrived and impressed us all day with how quickly they were meshing as a team. They got acquainted with the Koinonia community, took a tour of the farm and learned about its history, heard stories of peacebuilders, got introduced to the UN Declaration of Human Rights, played some basketball, and learned about the right of equality through stories from the civil rights movement. We wrapped up the day with a campfire and our closing circle, during which we ask campers every night which peacebuilders they learned about that day (through our discussions, people they met, books lying around, etc.). Tonight campers volunteered 3 people they had heard about:

“Martin Luther King, Jr. was a peacebuilder because he made black and white people join together.”

“Elizabeth Eckford is a peacebuilder because she wanted to change it so whites and blacks could go to the same school.”

“Hazel Bryan is a peacebuilder because she remembered what she did wrong, apologized to Elizabeth Eckford, and changed it.”